
In the summer of 2004, a group of filmmakers embarked on a project in Budapest, capturing the city's essence with several dozen rolls of Kodachrome 40 Super 8mm film. Although they utilized only a small portion of the footage at the time, the material remained untouched for nearly two decades. In 2024, they rediscovered this treasure, breathing new life into it by adding sound and music. They returned to the same urban locations, now equipped with digital technology, to create a fresh narrative that intertwines the past with the present.

5.8In 1913, an orphaned young woman arrives in Budapest to take up employment as a milliner at the hat store that belonged to her late parents but becomes mired in a search for a brother she had never known of.
8.2Oliver Stone charts the history of the United States from the Second World War to the present.
7.0Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
6.8The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
7.0Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.
7.0One single Anne Frank moves us more than the countless others who suffered just as she did but whose faces have remained in the shadows-Primo Levi. The Oscar®-winning Helen Mirren will introduce audiences to Anne Frank's story through the words in her diary. The set will be her room in the secret refuge in Amsterdam, reconstructed in every detail by set designers from the Piccolo Theatre in Milan. Anne Frank this year would have been 90 years old. Anne's story is intertwined with that of five Holocaust survivors, teenage girls just like her, with the same ideals, the same desire to live: Arianna Szörenyi, Sarah Lichtsztejn-Montard, Helga Weiss and sisters Andra and Tatiana Bucci. Their testimonies alternate with those of their children and grandchildren.
6.2SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
7.9Dick Proenneke retired at age 50 in 1967 and decided to build his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula, in what is now Lake Clark National Park. Using color footage he shot himself, Proenneke traces how he came to this remote area, selected a homestead site and built his log cabin completely by himself. The documentary covers his first year in-country, showing his day-to-day activities and the passing of the seasons as he sought to scratch out a living alone in the wilderness.
6.4This documentary brings to life the stories of four people believed by their family and friends to be “DB Cooper,” a man who hijacked a 727 flying out of Seattle and jumped from the plane over the wilds of Washington State with a parachute and $200,000, never to be heard from again.
7.5Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger says that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".
7.4Retrospective documentary about the making of the horror cult classic "The Return of the Living Dead."
7.6When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
6.9At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
7.0A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.
7.2With unprecedented access, this documentary follows the extraordinary journey of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”—a group of anonymous citizen journalists who banded together after their homeland was overtaken by ISIS—as they risk their lives to stand up against one of the greatest evils in the world today.
6.7Morning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city's upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor. The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.
7.6Vivian Maier's photos were seemingly destined for obscurity, lost among the clutter of the countless objects she'd collected throughout her life. Instead these images have shaken the world of street photography and irrevocably changed the life of the man who brought them to the public eye. This film brings to life the interesting turns and travails of the improbable saga of John Maloof's discovery of Vivian Maier, unravelling this mysterious tale through her documentary films, photographs, odd collections and personal accounts from the people that knew her. What started as a blog to show her work quickly became a viral sensation in the photography world. Photos destined for the trash heap now line gallery exhibitions, a forthcoming book and this documentary film.
6.5During the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, Wim Wenders asked a number of global film directors to, one at a time, go into a hotel room, turn on the camera, and answer a simple question: "What is the future of cinema?"
6.1A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
7.8Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
9.0A film about a district in Buda, which to this day cannot face the inconceivably cruel crimes committed by its former inhabitants.
7.0János Baksa-Soós, aka Prince January. A man who influenced those who influenced us. “Sometimes you have to make time for a whole life!” he said. He did, and we explored his incredible life. Starting from Zoltán Kodály, we fly over downtown KEX concerts, dive into the deepest recesses of Berlin punk and end up who knows where. Somewhere in the cosmos.
6.0This Traveltalk series short visits Hungary's capital, Budapest.
6.7Budapest, Hungary, Christmas 1957. The state, insecure after the defeated revolution of 1956 and increasingly put under the influence of a renewed Stalinist atmosphere, has decreed that all security officials must pass an exam to verify their loyalty. But to be actually effective in a shadowy world where suspicion and secrets reign, the subjects must be unaware that they are being tested.
5.1The deportation of 4000 Jews from Budapest to Auschwitz in July 1944, as told by George Tabori, and how the narrator’s mother escaped it, owing to coincidence, courage and some help from where you’d least expect it.
7.7The Dynasty by the Direkt36 investigative center tells the story of the business dealings of the Prime Minister’s family over several decades. With hidden camera footage, it also shows the luxurious world built by Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law István Tiborcz and his daughter Ráhel Orbán.
6.9The story of three women - a famous prostitute, her housekeeper and their new maid - living in Budapest of 1910s, whose passionate, bizarre and complex relationship can only lead to one thing: murder.
5.8In 1913, an orphaned young woman arrives in Budapest to take up employment as a milliner at the hat store that belonged to her late parents but becomes mired in a search for a brother she had never known of.
6.5A documentary on the 1956 Olympic semifinal water polo match between Hungary and Russia. Held in Australia, the match occurred as Russian forces were in Budapest, stomping out a popular revolt.
6.8Shortly after the end of World War II, a con man on the run finds himself in a passionate love affair that may well cost him his life.
6.0Geri is a serious drug addict, using designer drugs intravenously. Between two flashes, he lives an active social life on the streets of Budapest, in a subculture that "normal" people cannot see.
0.0At the end of high school, Zátonyi has to decide whether graduating or dating is more important. And for Kővári, the emergence of Leslie, who sees her future in drug dealing, could mean easy money. The two buddies almost miss the university entrance exam, but before that, they have to grow up a little bit for the task.
7.0A story of two boys caught up in the turmoil of the dramatic events of 1956 in Central Europe. At 13, Romek Strzalkowski was the youngest victim of the first workers' rebellion against Communist authorities in Poland. During "Black Thursday" on June 26, he was killed protesting near the UB political police headquarters. Peter Mansfeld was the youngest victim of post-revolt Communist reprisals in Hungary. As a 15-year-old he took part in the Budapest fighting. After the revolution had been quelled by the Soviet army in 1956, he did not give up; he was arrested in 1959 and sentenced to death. Because of the Communists' cruelty, it took as long as 13 minutes for Peter to die, "like Jesus Christ on the cross," said his Hungarian biographer. The filmmakers analyze the importance of the legend about the two boys who fought against Communism in Poland and Hungary.
0.0In 2020 the Hungarian government announced the change of ownership at nine state universities in order to make them maintained by foundations. The so-called “restructuring” comprised the imposition of a board of trustees over the universities, the members of which being loyal supporters of the government holding stable positions in its economic halo. Only one of the nine institutions protested against the forced political takeover of the University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE). Our film presents one of the stories of the university blockade.
4.7A Hungarian Secret Service official attempts to defect the country and earn political asylum in the West.
